Five people were arrested for allegedly submitting false statements that their properties were damaged in the Forestry Firm of January of Los AngelesThe Department of Justice announced Friday.
The defendants, whose cases are not related to each other, could fraudulently collect thousands of dollars in federal relief for disaster of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to the Department of Justice. They have been accused of fraud in relation to greater disaster or emergency benefits and each faces a maximum of 30 years in the federal prison.
Four of the five defendants are from Los Angeles County, and those people were arrested Thursday. A defendant is from Arizona and was already in custody of the State for an unrelated issue when she was accused.
Until now, FEMA has distributed more than $ 123.6 million 33,817 people impacted by what officials warn could be the Most expensive disaster in modern history. Fema subsidies do not need to pay and can be used to cover rental assistance, temporary homes, housing repairs, property losses and other disaster -related needs not covered by insurance.
Deanniah Hogan, 32, from Compton, filed a claim in January, informing a house of Pacific Palisades that was allegedly renting, authorities said. He received $ 17,351 from FEMA. The true owner of the house later confirmed to the Police that the property was not being rented. Hogan was released with a bail of $ 10,000 after making his first appearance in court on Thursday. Its reading position is scheduled for May 20.
The authorities say that Delvonne Dashon Johnson, 31, of East Hollywood, filed a claim for a house by Pacific Palisades that is owned by a different person, a woman who told the police that he does not know Johnson and never rented the property. The agency sent Johnson approximately $ 64,138 in federal aid funds based on its fraudulent February claim. When the real owner went to file a claim later, he told the authorities that FEMA notified that someone else had already filed a claim for his property. Johnson was scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Friday.
Keandre Lowe, 21, from Long Beach, allegedly claimed to rent a house in Altadena that was damaged in the fire. The true owners have resided there since 2007 and said they have never rented the property, according to the authorities. Lowe received $ 28,286 from FEMA after submitting the fraudulent claim in January. Lowe was released with a bail of $ 10,000 after appearing in the Court on Thursday and its reading charges is scheduled for May 27.
Zenalyn Mcintre, 38, of Sherman Oaks, is accused of submitting documents to reinforce a fraudulent claim, including his California driver's license, which listed a Sherman Oaks address, and a natural gas gas services bill that the authorities, according to the authorities, seemed false. Mcintre supposedly stated in January that he was renting a house of Pacific Palisades that was destroyed by the fire and received $ 25,229 in aid funds. Mcintre was scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Friday.
A defendant, Katrina Woods, 33, from Maricopa, Arizona, listed in her fraudulent claim a non -existent speech in Altadena that was supposedly destroyed as her main residence, authorities said. Fema gave Woods $ 23,441, which does not include the cost of two stays in hotels in downtown Los Angeles and Hawthorne that the agency reserved. Until Wednesday, Woods was in state custody for an unrelated issue, and is expected to make its initial appearance in a federal court in the coming weeks.
Other individuals have already been arrested and accused of fraud for similar claims involving the fires that the authorities say they are false.
Hedeshia Robertson, 36, of Lakewood, is scheduled to declare himself guilty on May 2 at a fraud charge in relation to greater disaster or emergency benefits after giving fraudulently around $ 24,899 of FEMA. Jaime Arturo Carrillo, 48, in southern Los Angeles, declared himself guilty on Wednesday of a position of the same position after FEMA granted him transition refuge assistance for a value of more than $ 2,000.
